The Canberra Raiders' under 20s Toyota Cup side have beeten the Newcastle Knights 34 - 24 this afternoon in Canberra.

The Raiders went to an early lead and looked to be in full control of the match after leading 24-6 at one stage.

Newcastle hit back after half time however to draw the game level at 24 all and it looked like the Raiders had clocked off.

For awhile it looked like the Raiders would struggle to finish the job without gun half back and captain Sam Williams (promoted to NRL), but Canberra then steadied the ship with two late tries to seal an entertaining game.

Massey was a stand out for the Green Machine scoring 2 tries and kicking 5 from 6 goals.

The Canberra Raiders' under 20s Toyota Cup side have beeten the Newcastle Knights 34 - 24 this afternoon in Canberra.

The Raiders went to an early lead and looked to be in full control of the match after leading 24-6 at one stage.

Newcastle hit back after half time however to draw the game level at 24 all and it looked like the Raiders had clocked off.

For awhile it looked like the Raiders would struggle to finish the job without gun half back and captain Sam Williams (promoted to NRL), but Canberra then steadied the ship with two late tries to seal an entertaining game.

Massey was a stand out for the Green Machine scoring 2 tries and kicking 5 from 6 goals.

How can a referee get a call so wrong like they did today with the McCrone no try? Why didn't they change the decision after the video replay showed the call was wrong? They easily could have because play had not restarted at that stage as the scrum was still packing. Calls like that cost teams games and they cost rugby league fans.

EASTER is all about comebacks but there was no resurrection for the Canberra Raiders yesterday.

They have tallied six-straight losses to stay firmly anchored to the bottom of the NRL table.

Coach David Furner is not going to torture himself by trying to explain why a team that won by 28 points in the first round has lost every game since.

"I think you've got to take each game on its merits," said Furner, whose team had opportunities to beat Newcastle at Canberra Stadium.

"I didn't think we were far off. I was confident we would win today. I was confident we'd win last week and I was confident the week before. So what I will do is have a look at the game and we'll work on the areas we need to work on.

"What I did like was our desperation with our defence on our line."

One thing Furner will do is wait until he cools down before contacting referees' boss Bill Harrigan.

The penalty count was low, only 5-3 to Newcastle, but one decision in particular irked Furner. Midway through the second half, referee Matt Cecchin ruled Raiders five-eighth Josh McCrone had knocked the ball from Junior Sa'u's hands. Video replays showed Sa'u simply dropped it before McCrone pounced on the loose ball with the tryline clear ahead of him.

"Look, I think we've got problems there, not the team. If you have a look at that decision it changed the (game)," Furner said. "I've always said we look at ourselves first as a team when we lose.

But it's getting a bit testy for me because I've spoken to the (referees' superiors) guys about our last three weeks.

"When your luck's not happening sometimes you get those and I understand that, but that changed the game. If you had a look at that and let play go on, Joshie McCrone's underneath the posts _ different game, we win."

Captain Alan Tongue said the team had to stay positive and learn from its mistakes _ including his clanger when he dropped the ball (before McCrone's disappointment) when set to score as Canberra led 12-6.

"I don't think we change our approach too much. You can see that the effort's there and a couple of things aren't going our way," Tongue said.

"At this stage of the season you've got to stay positive. You can't be going around with your head hanging low."

Furner did not want to dwell too much on whether the loss left Canberra's season on the brink.

"I think if you have a look at the competition, to get two, three, four in a row it would change your position dramatically," he said.

We showed in the first half that we can still play some good footy when we put our minds to it. Don't know how we managed to let that one get away to be honest. Still, that was our best game of the year so far not including round 1. We are getting better every week. The breakthrough win isn't far away now, all we need is one just to kick start us again and give the guys some confidence.

Mate Campo wouldn't make a difference right now, it is just not happening for us hey. They are down on confidence and have had some shocking calls go against them, tey will get the win when they play as a team for the full 80 minutes again.\

Not saying that I dont want Campo back because I do. Would love to have him back right now, but McCrone and 5/8 has not been the problem and half back has only been a problem some of the time. Putting Campo back in isn't going to stop another player from dropping the ball or making a stupid play or giving away a penalty. Raiders need to each look at their own game and be responsible for it and not expect someone else to win the game without them.

Mate Campo wouldn't make a difference right now, it is just not happening for us hey. They are down on confidence and have had some shocking calls go against them, tey will get the win when they play as a team for the full 80 minutes again.\

Not saying that I dont want Campo back because I do. Would love to have him back right now, but McCrone and 5/8 has not been the problem and half back has only been a problem some of the time. Putting Campo back in isn't going to stop another player from dropping the ball or making a stupid play or giving away a penalty. Raiders need to each look at their own game and be responsible for it and not expect someone else to win the game without them.

Well said.

You are spot on when you make the point that the Raiders need to make better individual efforts if they want to win. When Orford was hired I think everyone just sat back a bit and expected him to run the side all on his own. In round one all the players had good games, they were not sitting back and expecting Williams to do everything himself, which I think was the problem the next week when Orford debuted. Fans and players alike have put way too much pressure and expectation on to Orford. He isn't the only one who gets this attention because we are guilty of doing the same to Campese and Dugan.